Putin: US-Russia talks as first step to restoring ties

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he rated talks between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia “highly”, describing them as a “first step” to restoring relations with Washington.

Officials from the two nuclear powers met in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, their first high-level meeting in more than three years.

“I was briefed (on the talks). I rate them highly, there is a result,” Putin said at a drone factory in Saint Petersburg.

“In my opinion, we made the first step to restore work in various areas of mutual interests.”

Putin added that US President Donald Trump was starting to receive “objective information”, without elaborating, but cautioned the two sides needed to build trust to resolve the conflict.

“It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States,” the Russian leader added.

Since coming to office last month, Trump has effectively ended the previous US administration’s policy of isolating Russia, handing a diplomatic coup to Putin.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Trump echoed many of Russia’s talking points on the three-year conflict in Ukraine, blaming Kyiv for having “started” the fighting and suggesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was hugely unpopular.

Rubio: Sanctions to stay for now

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European allies that the US will keep sanctions on Russia in place at least until a deal to end the Ukraine conflict is reached, even as his boss Trump, said he’ll probably meet Putin to discuss a settlement before the end of February.

Rubio gave the assurance that sanctions won’t be lifted sooner to a group of European counterparts on a call Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Speaking in Florida, Trump did little to assuage those concerns. “Russia wants to do something,” he said, adding that he was “much more reassured” that a deal could be reached after the talks in Riyadh.

By contrast, Trump said he was “disappointed” to hear that Ukrainian officials complained about being left out of the talks. Blaming Russia’s war in Ukraine’s leadership under Zelensky, Trump said “you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” He signalled support for holding new elections after an agreement.

The concern is if “Trump wants this to be over so badly and he seems to be looking at economic opportunities with Russia” there “really could be a quick and terrible end to the conflict,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior intelligence official who’s now director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. “That’s what I’m really worried about.”

Meanwhile, Zelensky hit back at Trump’s misleading remarks about the Ukrainian leader’s approval rating and suggestions that Kyiv started the war, accusing the US president of living in a Russian “disinformation space.”

Tension escalated a day after senior officials from the US and Russia met for a first round of talks over the war in Ukraine, leaving Zelenskiy isolated and compounding fears that a deal to resolve the war will be reached without Kyiv’s involvement.